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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Delivery History

Seeing MK for the first time.....my only c-section

I was thinking lately over my previous births as I prepare physically and mentally to deliver yet again. I thought I would write a very brief synopsis of each of my births.
Btw, I love natural childbirth and highly recommend "The Bradley Method." I do also love my hospital births. I guess being an RN, I'm comfortable in the hospital and like the comfort of knowing if anything goes wrong that I am right there with all the modern medical advancements : ) I also try to remember that a live, healthy baby is the goal and sometimes births don't go as we planned, but it's alright. Very few things in life do, right? God is in control and He is good! Anyway, here goes.............

Will: water broke spontaneously at 39 weeks. No labor started after 12 plus hours, so I was started on pitocin. He was born 6 hours after that, with no other drugs. He was small, 6lbs. 2oz. and a great first birth.

Ben: went into labor spontaneously at 38 weeks. Had a 8 hour natural labor and he was big, 8lbs 13 oz., and had shoulder dytocia. He was stuck for a few minutes and had to have oxygen right after birth, but thankfully no NICU.

Anna: went into labor spontaneously at 39 weeks. Had a natural 10 hour (I know, the labors got longer : ) Great labor and delivery in the middle of the night and was so happy to have a girl after 2 boys. She was 7lbs. 2oz.

Christian: was a day late! Had a midwife for him, in the hospital. My water broke at home and went to hospital after labor was regular. He was born after being in the jacuzzi and then on the ball. My shortest, most peaceful labor, about 4 hours. He was 7lbs. 12oz.

Taylor: this is my very sad story. I will one day do a long blog post on my precious little one, but it's too hard to focus on now. I stopped feeling movement at 37 weeks. A sonogram confirmed no heartbeat. I was induced and it took 20 hours to deliver him. He was born still, yet perfect. He died due to a knot in the umbilical cord. He was 7lbs. 7oz.

Luke: my healing baby! Born 10 days early and less than a year after Taylor with a midwife. I did have pitocin with him due to my labor slowing way down. He was 8lbs. 12oz.

Caroline: she was due on Christmas Eve, so my doctor induced me a week early. It was a nice, quiet labor and she was born with one push! The doctor basically ran in and caught her just in time : ) She was 7lbs. 12oz.

Ellie: I went all the way to her due date and was huge, so my doctor induced me. She was born pretty fast and weighed 8lbs. 7oz.

MaryKate: I really wanted to go into labor naturally, so I went past my due date. At 3 days over, I stopped feeling her move for 3 hours. I freaked! I rushed to hospital with just my 13 year old son. The baby was very tachycardic (high heart rate) and they could not get her to move either. The doctor did an emergency c-section and she was born with an apgar score of 1. Her second score was 8 and she was fine after that. It was determined that she was way too tangled in her cord. She was small, 7lbs 1oz, and I guess was just swimming around in the big uterus too much : )

Matthew: He was on due on Thanksgiving so I chose to be induced a week early. Because it was a v-bac, the induction was just breaking my water and monitoring. The doc did give my a little pitocin later on, because labor was very slow. I had to be heavily monitored and that drove me crazy! Was a very hard labor, but it was so cool having all my family there (right outside the door) when he was born, including my mother, mother-in-law, sister and sister-in-law. He was born surprisingly with DS, but all that is another blog post I wrote earlier. He had no major medical problems and was adorable at 7lbs. 12oz.

Whew! I'm getting a little nervous that I'll be doing this again. It really never becomes "old hat" but such an awesome miracle!

12 comments:

I love hearing birth stories! I love The Bradley Method too. I only have two so far. The first I labored for 30+ hours and then they found out she was breech so unplanned c-section. My second was a VBAC, no meds, all natural and about 12 hours of labor- an amazing experience. Can't wait to hear your next birth story :)

Thanks for sharing. I have followed your blog for sometime, and last October my daughter was stillborn. It is encouraging to hear about all of your successful deliveries after Taylor. I hope to have another blessing one day too:)

I loved reading your birth stories! I am also a fan of the Bradley Method! :) My first two births were pretty traditional, medicated hospital births, then my third birth (my son Taylor!) was born in a birthing center with a midwife! That was in Charlotte! Then, I had two more born in a great environment with very minimal intervention in a LDRP room in a women's hospital in Greenville, SC. Then two home births! Then back to the hospital for another natural birth with a CNM. Then, ended with two hospital births with OB/GYNS and Pitocin . . . . something I swore I would never have! My uterus got tired at the end . . . had to have a little help to make it through! I did have some miscarriages along the way, but no still births, no C-sections -- and ten healthy children. I am so blessed!! Thanks for sharing your story!

Just came across your blog, from Cinnamon's blog. Birth stories all so unique, much like our children. How blessed you are. I'm a mother of 11 here and 1 in heaven, our 5th child Jonathan has DS. He is now 12 and is truly a gift...and a mess at times.